Trump Staff Picks, Co-Conspirators and the Revolving Door of Departures

[KaraBulut]

Wow. They dug up someone who has actually been on a Navy ship this time. Hopefully, he'll know when to jump ship, too.

Trump taps Ambassador to Norway Kenneth Braithwaite to replace ousted Navy chief [The Hill]

President Trump announced Sunday that Kenneth Braithwaite, the current ambassador to Norway, would replace Richard Spencer as the secretary of the Navy shortly after Spencer's ouster earlier in the day.

Trump's announcement came hours after Spencer was fired by Defense Secretary Mark Esper, with Esper claiming that Spencer had met behind his back with White House officials and offered to allow a SEAL convicted of a war crime to retire at his current rank.

 

[KaraBulut]

Yesterday was Rick Perry's last day as Energy Secretary.

Rick Perry dances toward the exits [Politico]

He didn’t resign under fire for making sweetheart apartment deals with lobbyists, engaging in dodgy real estate development plans or racking up more than $1 million in taxpayer-funded flights. So by those standards, Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s tenure as a member of President Donald Trump's Cabinet could count as a relative success.

Perry leaves office Sunday receiving generally high marks from both Republicans and Democrats for his nearly three years of running the Energy Department — an agency whose name he famously forgot during his “oops” moment in a 2011 presidential debate. But he is also leaving under a cloud as one of the “Three Amigos” whose intervention in Ukraine’s energy politics led to the House impeachment probe of Trump.

 

[Sausy]

Good riddance. I hope we find out just how much he was trying to gain influence with adding supporters to the Ukraine's official energy company. It seems like the administration sooo concerned with "corruption" and "draining the swamp (cough..cough… chief Democratic opponent Joe Biden and his son...the Clintons... hell, throw in the Obamas... NO Ukrainian sounding names in here) was trying to muck up the swamp with some good ole corruption of its own. He may not have been the worst Trump appointment, but he certainly wasn't a reformer or shining light.

 

[rareboy]

We already know that he has has been the dupe that has helped transfer American nuclear technology to the Saudis and then being set up as one of the Patsies in the Ukraine travesty.

The only reason he has 'high' marks from any Democrats is that he could have done far worse.

One of Trump's most egregious troll appointments.

 

[KaraBulut]

Two top Pentagon officials resigned this week: Randall Schriver and Jimmy Stewart

Pentagon's top Asia policy official to resign [The Hill]

Top Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters that Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Randall Schriver “is planning on leaving the department” after being in the role since January 2018.

Hoffman did not say why Schriver was leaving the job, only suggesting that “he has a young family,” and the role often requires long international flights that become an undue stress.

Top Pentagon official announces resignation, second within week [The Hill]

"Today, I accepted the resignation of Jimmy Stewart, who has been performing the duties of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in a statement.

The Defense chief did not give a reason as to why Stewart was leaving.

Stewart was confirmed as the assistant secretary of Defense for manpower and reserve affairs in October 2018 and also filled the under secretary role since then.

 

[rareboy]

We are up to four.

A top Pentagon intelligence official will soon leave the building, the fourth key defense official to announce their resignation within a week.

Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Kari Bingen will leave in January. Her departure was first reported by Politico.

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/...Vqi-IbI1RoFSLR3nF4cD3I96fnoZGeFWDKhCWR7ZLGs2g

6 of 21 posts vacant.

Either a purge or fleeing a sinking administration.

 

[KaraBulut]

Not a surprise where since he had returned from retirement at Pompeo's request to accept this post after the Rudy's dirty dealings with the previous Ambassador.

Ukraine Ambassador Bill Taylor, a Key Player in the Impeachment Inquiry, to Leave Post [Time]

The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine will be leaving his post at the beginning of next year after a term convulsed by the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, two officials said Tuesday.

William Taylor, who was brought in to replace the ambassador whose term was cut short by Trump in May, could only serve a maximum of 210 days under federal law.

But the veteran diplomat ended up a key player in the events that led to the impeachment inquiry and will step down as the charge d’affaires of the embassy in Kyiv on Jan. 1. The plan was confirmed by two officials who were not authorized to speak publicly about a personnel matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

 

[KaraBulut]

Something is going on in the Pentagon.


Fifth Pentagon official announces resignation in seven days [The Hill]

The Defense Department’s senior adviser for international cooperation earlier this week left the Pentagon, marking the fifth top official in seven days to leave or announce their departure.

Ambassador Tina Kaidanow, a longtime State Department official who began working in her Pentagon role in September 2018, resigned on Dec. 16, the Pentagon confirmed. Defense News first reported her departure.

...the Dec. 12 notification that top Asia policy official Randall Schriver would leave after two years on the job, the Dec. 13 announcement that top official in charge of personnel and readiness Jimmy Stewart had resigned after taking the role in October 2018 the Tuesday report that Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency leader Steven Walker will leave in January, and the news earlier Wednesday that Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Kari Bingen submitted her resignation on Dec. 5 and will leave Jan. 10.

 

[rareboy]

"The Defense Department’s senior adviser for international cooperation"

I imagine that they just determined the role wasn't necessary any more under TrumpCo.

 

[KaraBulut]

"The Defense Department’s senior adviser for international cooperation"

I imagine that they just determined the role wasn't necessary any more under TrumpCo.

Following that logic, what does the departure of the "Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence" say?

 

[KaraBulut]

Another one bites the dust from the DoD...

Esper's chief of staff to depart at end of January [The Hill]

Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s chief of staff will step down at the end of the month after a little more than two years at the Pentagon, adding to the string of high-profile civilians to leave the building or announce their departures in the past month.

Eric Chewning “will be leaving the department at the end of January to return to the private sector,” Pentagon press secretary Alyssa Farah said in a statement...

Chewning is the sixth civilian policymaker to announce a departure from the Pentagon in the past month, including five within seven days in December.

 

[rareboy]

Talk about revolving door.

Andrew Peek only lasted three months as TrumpCo's Russia advisor.

Andrew Peek, the head of European and Russian affairs at the National Security Council, has left his post three months after he started, people familiar with the situation told Bloomberg Saturday evening.

Sources told the publication that Peek was escorted from the White House Friday.

https://thehill.com/homenews/admini...49CaCYIPJbcQM12LixOYODrKL3CUYA98cbBiCRH0GTxRQ

 

[KaraBulut]

Betsy was a busy little beaver this week. Comparing Trump to Lincoln. Equating abortion rights opponents to abolitionists. And advocating subsidizing religious schools with taxpayer money.

How is she still around?

DeVos compares abortion rights debate to slavery [Politico]

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos compared the abortion rights debate to the battle to eliminate slavery during remarks at a Colorado Christian University event in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night, and her comments are drawing angry responses from Democrats.

DeVos, a Christian conservative, discussed the Trump administration's record of opposition to abortion, and said she was reminded of President Abraham Lincoln. "He, too, contended with the 'pro-choice' arguments of his day," she said, according to prepared remarks shared Thursday by the department with POLITICO. "They suggested that a state’s 'choice' to be slave or to be free had no moral question in it."

Earlier on Wednesday, DeVos had attended oral arguments before the Supreme Court in Espinoza v. the Montana Department of Revenue, a case that could expand the use of public funds to pay for religious schools...

“We are especially eager for the Supreme Court to put an end to the ‘last acceptable prejudice’ made manifest in bigoted Blaine Amendments which deny students the freedom to pursue faith-based education,” she said, according to the remarks.

 

[KaraBulut]

Undiplomatic behavior from America's senior diplomat...

State Department drops NPR from Pompeo trip after Ukraine dust-up [CNN]

On Monday NPR reporter Michele Kelemen was notified that she was being removed from the press pool covering Pompeo's upcoming trip to the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.

The sudden change came just a few days after the top US diplomat responded angrily to an interviewer from the public radio outlet...

That interviewer, Mary Louise Kelly asked Pompeo a series of pertinent questions about Ukraine. Pompeo responded by saying he expected the interview to be about Iran. Kelly said she always intended to ask about both subjects, and that Pompeo's staff knew so ahead of time.

Kelly said Pompeo also questioned her intelligence by directing her to identify Ukraine on a blank map of the world. An aide fetched the map for Pompeo. Kelly, who has a Master's degree in European studies, said she pointed to Ukraine, and Pompeo moved on. In a statement the next day, he implied (without outright claiming) that she actually pointed to Bangladesh, a country thousands of miles away. Kelly's colleagues thought the insinuation was laughable.

Pompeo boils over as Ukraine pressure increases [CNN]

Pompeo has had to grapple with damaging Ukraine-related headlines that raise questions about his temperament and flatly contradict his public claims about administration policy toward the country. Conservative allies have called him a "baby," senior diplomats have publicly chastised him and State Department staff -- pointing to the secretary's emphasis on respect and professionalism -- privately say they're "incensed" about what they see as his hypocrisy and embarrassed by his leadership.

They're so accustomed to his angry eruptions that some have nicknamed him "Mount Mike."

 

[KaraBulut]

Talk about revolving door.

Andrew Peek only lasted three months as TrumpCo's Russia advisor.

https://thehill.com/homenews/admini...49CaCYIPJbcQM12LixOYODrKL3CUYA98cbBiCRH0GTxRQ

Subsequent reporting is that Mr Peek was "put on indefinite administrative leave amid a security-related investigation".

White House's top Russia official put on leave pending investigation [NBC]

The top White House official responsible for Russia and Europe has been put on indefinite administrative leave amid a security-related investigation, two U.S. officials and a former U.S. official said.

The official, Andrew Peek, who took over the Russia portfolio at the National Security Council in November, had been scheduled to join President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week before he was abruptly put on leave, one of the officials said. The officials declined to specify the nature of the investigation.

 

[KaraBulut]

Jennifer Williams has also escaped the White House.

Pence adviser who testified during the House impeachment inquiry is leaving her role [CNN]

Jennifer Williams, the special adviser to Vice President Pence on Europe and Russia who testified during the House impeachment inquiry last year, is leaving the Vice President's office two months ahead of her planned departure at the end of March, a White House official told CNN.

Williams is a detailee to Pence's staff from the State Department and is heading back to start another assignment as a deputy foreign policy adviser at US Central Command which oversees US troops in the Middle East and Central Asia..

 

[KaraBulut]

Marie Yovanovitch has retired.

Former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch retires [CBS]

Former Ukrainian ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, who testified in the House impeachment inquiry, is retiring from foreign service, CBS News' Margaret Brennan confirmed. In a recording made by an associate of Rudy Giuliani, Lev Parnas, in April 2018, President Trump was heard saying "get rid of her" and "take her out."

Yovanovitch testified in November that she was prematurely removed from her post due to a smear campaign orchestrated by "foreign corrupt interests" in Ukraine who worked with Trump allies to tarnish her reputation after 33 years in public service.

The news of Yovanovitch's retirement was first reported by NPR. Despite being forced out from her post in Kiev in May 2019, she had remained on the payroll, according to NPR.

 

[rareboy]

James Byrne of the VA. Deputy Secretary.

Stay tuned.

 

[rareboy]

And the head of the Navy Seals, Special Warfare Rear Adm. Collin Green.

The officer responsible for US Navy special-operations forces will step down from his position in September, The Intercept reported over the weekend.

As you recall, he and Trump disagreed over the handling of war criminal Eddie Gallagher.

https://news.yahoo.com/top-navy-seal-commander-resigns-140155604.html

 

[KaraBulut]

Perhaps they'll offer him a job in the State Department instead?

Nominee for top Pentagon personnel job withdraws after op-ed surfaces [Politico]

The nominee for a top personnel job in the Pentagon has withdrawn, according to three sources close to the matter, the latest in a string of vacancy problems among high-ranking civilian officials at the Defense Department.

J. David Patterson, a former defense official in the George W. Bush administration and currently a senior vice president at SMA Inc., was nominated on Jan. 9 to be the second highest personnel official in the Pentagon...

In 2017, Patterson co-wrote an op-ed for The Federalist website blaming mass killings on immigrants who failed to “assimilate” into American culture. The column came out days after an immigrant from Uzbekistan who was inspired by ISIS allegedly drove a truck into cyclists and runners in lower Manhattan, killing eight and injuring a dozen more.